


Mark me Dead

by totallyevan



Series: The Umbrella Academy Inktober (2019) [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Addiction, Ben is only mentioned once, But that counts right, Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Diego Hargreeves is Bad at Feelings, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Needles, Stuttering Diego Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 19:35:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20935601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallyevan/pseuds/totallyevan
Summary: Diego and Klaus don't have a lot in common, especially when it comes to needles. One can't live with them, the other can't live without them. But at the end of the day, are they really that different?





	Mark me Dead

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the "official" umbrella academy inktober, 2019, prompts made by me. This is Day 7: Needles. Enjoy!

Diego was fearless, at least for the most part. But his fear of needles wasn’t random.

The memory never left his head every time he had to look at one. It was so overwhelming for him that he would pass out if he stared for too long. 

He never wanted to be near one again, because he’d just be reminded of that day. The day he got his tattoo. 

He hated it. 

Every time he looked at his wrist, he would travel back in time, to his 13-year-old self sitting on that chair, a random man with a tattoo gun piercing his skin.

Anything that had to do with needles terrified Diego. It didn’t matter if it was on  _ him _ , it could be on anyone and he’d still pass out cold. 

So yeah, he got upset when he found Klaus with a new trail of bruises, clearly from injections, on his right arm.

And it wasn’t the first time this happened either.

* * *

They wouldn’t shut up.

No matter what Klaus did to distract himself, the ghosts just wouldn’t shut up. Rehab hadn’t been easy. 

He knew any other drug addict would say the same thing as him, that he couldn’t go on without his next fix yada yada yada, but his case was different. He  _ couldn’t  _ go on because being clean meant staying clean, staying clean meant… Well, more and more dead people.

It wasn’t fun. 

Being  _ high  _ was fun, it was relaxing, but this? This wasn’t fun at all.

He ran to his dealer so fucking fast when he got out. At that point, he was desperate for anything. He didn’t care. And he didn’t care  _ what  _ he had to do to get high either. It didn’t matter to him.

He just wanted them to shut up. 

He sat in a street corner, a needle in his one hand, the sleeve of his other arm pulled up. If it wasn’t an emergency, he’d usually check if the needle was even clean, but this time he didn’t bother.

Hoping it was, he injected himself despite Ben yelling at him not to.

* * *

Diego examined his arm, having the urge to throw up but the back of his throat was too dry to let that happen. “Jesus Christ, Klaus-”

He got up from the bed where they were sitting, to get him anything that would prevent the wounds from getting infected if they hadn’t already. 

But also to just stop staring before he passed out in front of his brother. 

“What? Not a fan of my work?” Klaus replied, and even though Diego was not looking, he could tell he was smiling. Of course, he was smiling. When did Klaus ever take anything seriously?

“I’m not joking, Klaus. This is serious, not to mention disgusting.” He murmured the last part, walking back to his bed, betadine and cotton in hand. “Give me your arm.” He spoke up again as he sat down.

A wider smirk spread on Klaus’s face. “Why should I? You just called it disgusting.” 

Diego really tried not to snap at him right then and there. How many times had Klaus come running to him for help this year? For a place to sleep again?

“I swear to god if you don’t give me your arm I’ll rip it off your shoulder and shove it up your ass.” 

Klaus gave him his arm.

Diego poured some of the betadine on the cotton, and placed it on one of the bruises. Klaus should have been the one to hiss, not him. But it was hard to do this because he was trying not to look.

He really hated that Klaus did this to himself daily. No matter how much he scolded him every time he came over his sorry excuse of an apartment, —it was a goddamn boiler room, christ— he felt bad for him. 

Klaus never really told him how bad the ghosts could get, but if slowly killing himself was the only way to find peace, it was worse than what Diego had originally thought. 

“You got skinnier. Have you been eating?” He continued to take care of Klaus’s arm but distracted himself by breaking the silence. Not his strong suit, it was gonna have to do for now, though.

“I’ve been eating a  _ lot  _ of things, Diego dear.” He had expected a reply like that, but it still pissed him off. He forgot how much of a handful his brother really was.

After very sloppily cleaning the rest of the bruises, Diego put the supplies back in their place. Now it was time to put Klaus in his.

He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms and looking at him dead in the eyes. “What are you doing here?” He asked, catching Klaus off-guard.

“Huh?”

“Why are y-you here?” He asked again, paraphrasing, but not changing the tone of his voice. Great. He stuttered. This couldn’t get better.

He was going to completely lose it if another joke was made. He knew Klaus didn’t like being threatened, so he used that against him. 

“Uhm…” He watched as Klaus paused to find the right words. “I was hoping I could stay the night?” 

Diego didn’t reply to that. He continued to glare at his brother who was opening and closing his mouth, trying to add onto what he said but was failing to do so. 

Something finally came out of him, but he was more silent than before. “But if you don’t want me to, I can go.” He was desperate, both of them knew it. But neither of them said anything for a good couple of seconds.

Klaus nodded to himself, a sad smile decorating his roughed up face. He pulled his sleeve down and got up.

Diego kept watching as Klaus walked the small set of stairs that led to the exit of the boiler room.

That’s when he realized Klaus wasn’t the weak one in the room, but rather, it was him. He kept acting like he didn’t care where Klaus would go next or what trouble he would get into, the way Klaus didn’t care about the consequences of his actions, but in reality, he cared a lot. He always had.

Klaus always made an unnecessary amount of jokes to cover up how he really felt. It was the exact same thing Diego did by acting like the tough one, the invincible one.

Maybe they weren’t so different after all.

Ironically, it was like someone was poking his heart with a needle. Was that what Klaus trying to achieve by walking so miserably? 

_ ‘For fuck’s sake.’ _

He followed after him and stopped him by grabbing the fur of his coat. Good quality, he probably stole the thing. “Wait.”

Klaus turned around, making eye contact with Diego immediately. 

Diego breathed through his nose, closing his eyes and looking back at Klaus. He was really going to regret saying this, wasn’t he? Biting his lip, not wanting to mess up his words by stuttering again, he opened his mouth to speak up.

“You can stay. Just this time.”

It was gonna be a long night. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you kindly for reading, you can follow me on tumblr @totallyevan if you'd like to see other TUA related things drawn/made by me! Kudos and such are appreciated. <3


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